Baladoj el Asante

A bit ago I got a book from the library because it looked interesting and because it is one of the few things (other than textbooks) that my library offers in Esperanto. Its name is “Ashanti Ballads” or “Baladoj el Asante,” and it is a collection of some Ghanean folk songs of Koo Nimo, a popular singer and performer of traditional palm-wine ballads, translated into English and Esperanto from Asante-Twi. The translation is done into rhyming verse, so it is, by the author’s own admission, a fairly free one. The book I have was printed in 1981 and it is an effort to spread recognition of the value of traditional African culture in the face of encroaching Western pop culture. One thing I found interesting was that, in order to increase the reach of these ballads, the book was translated into both Esperanto and English.

The collection was interesting enough, but I was disappointed to find that the Esperanto text was a translation of the English, and not of the Asante-Twi original. One of the things that attract me the most about Esperanto is its versatility, and I think that generally speaking, Esperanto can be better suited than any natural language to more closely express ideas in the same manner as they are expressed in the original language. I was looking forward to seeing that flexibility put to good use.

As I mentioned above, the author chose to translate the texts into rhyming verse, which I’m not too sure I think was a good idea. For one thing, though I can neither speak nor read Asante-Twi, judging by the originals included in the back the original text did not rhyme. The rhyme in general adds a sort of childish tone to the collection that I don’t know if the original was intended to have. Because of this rhyme, it is only understandable that the poems are a bit awkward at times.

Though the Esperanto is a translation from the English, they do differ in terms of phrasing, but generally strive to express the same meaning. No harm done there, considering that the English already did that with respect to the Asante-Twi. I found both versions enjoyable, though it was naturally the Esperanto version that interested me the most. They were light and fun to read, and most included some sort of lesson, like a fable. I don’t regret having checked it out.

I think this was my favorite of the lot (and coincidentally, the only one that did not rhyme). It is called Aburokyire Abrabo, “La Vivo Transmara” (Click on the name to listen to the original, it’s pretty cool):